Ciss-Stories

By Concordia Intl School Shanghai

Work for the CIA and battles against bullies, Nazis, and enemy armies. Travel to distant and strange lands in search of treasure and new friendships while exploring the mysteries of CISS-STORIES.

Take an unforgettable journey and learn about becoming an adult. Face difficult situations and fulfill ones dreams. Surf wild waves and save the world from destruction. Foil criminals and kings and deal with magical creatures.

Overcome personal tragedies and find a place to be loved in CISS-STORIES. Read seventeen different stories from seventeen writers and enjoy passion and adventure through the eyes of teenagers.

CISS-STORIES is a compilation of stories written by eighth grade students at Concordia International School Shanghai and organized for publication by Terry Umphenour. The stories represent the final works of a yearlong writing project. All stories are published with the consent of the students and Concordia International School Shanghai.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469732602

Concordia Intl School Shanghai

Concordia International School Schanghai is a college preparatory school in Shanghai, China, that provides 1200 students in grades preschool through high school a high quality, American curriculum. More information is available at concordiashanghai.org.

Book preview

The Chaos of the Future World

By

Aryn Aiken

Why can’t I go to the funeral? Laila’s timid seventeen-year-

old voice cried into the phone. He was my grandfather, your father. You get to go even though you don’t care.

I do care sweetie, Laila’s mom replied from her cell phone in Chicago. I just think that your education is more important right now.

You don’t care about your dad dying, so you don’t want me to care either, Laila screamed, trying to contain her tears. But guess what? You might have control over what I do, but you can’t make me not care. I STILL CARE!

Drenched with rage and hatred towards her mother, she punched the red, end button on her dorm room’s portable phone. Laila walked out from her isolation in the bathroom to be bombarded with questioning stares from her roommates. She ignored them. Laila didn’t really want to see anyone at that moment, except her grandfather who always knew the right thing to say to her. Paw Paw understood that she wasn’t like everyone else in her family and her life.

Lost in thought, Laila simply passed her three roommates and went out onto the grounds of the elite boarding school her mother forced her to attend. The crisp, fresh North Carolina breeze greeted her when she opened the door. Finally, free to express her emotions, she broke down and cried. The first tear, of many, rolled down her cheek as she thought about living her life without Paw Paw, the one person who genuinely understood her.

Sitting below the old oak tree in the center of the courtyard, she let her ginger hair fall over her face, hiding her tears from all passersby. Thankfully most people didn’t ask Laila what was wrong, so she submerged herself in thoughts. How could her mother not let her go to her grandfather’s funeral? Why wasn’t her mother going? Paw Paw was her father. Did her mom care about anything other than shopping in Chicago and staying away from her only daughter? She really didn’t care. Ever since Laila was little, her mother had ignored her and dragged her father down the same path. Laila often compared herself to Mary from a book titled The Secret Garden. Her parents didn’t care about her either.

Laila didn’t know how she would survive on the Egypt archaeology field trip that departed in just three days. On that note she realized that her loving Paw Paw would have wanted her to remember him but not spend too long crying over him when she had the rest of her life ahead of her.

Laila stood up straight and tall. She wiped the tears from her eyes, ready to march her way back to her room and face any questions her snobby roommates asked. She had nothing to hide.

Laila fixed her navy blue shirt, brushed the dirt off the back pockets of her jeans, and flipped her hair so that she might not appear too torn. Although she felt like her heart had been ripped into millions of pieces, she left the tree, determined to move forward while she grieved quietly. With Egypt ahead, it couldn’t be that hard. I miss you Paw Paw, she thought, and a final tear rolled down her face.

Life was too short to put on hold. If you wait too long, your world turns into living chaos, Paw Paw’s words rang in her head as she walked away from her sorrows. Laila didn’t like chaos.

* * *

Egypt, the land of pyramids and historical mysteries, surrounded Laila. She breathed in the dusty desert air and leaned on her shovel. Laila’s school offered an AP course in archaeology, which included a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Egypt to help on a real excavation site. For the first two days they had only dug holes really slowly so they wouldn’t ruin any remains. I guess when they said help, they really meant just help, Laila thought as she started back to work.

Everything went the same way for another hour until the boy next to Laila, Mark, yelled, I found something.

Dr. Raskavi, a professional archaeologist, ran over to the site and started uncovering what looked like a femur bone as all of the student helpers watched him–all of them–except Laila. She backed away from that hole and slowly made her way to the top of a small mound of sand. The sight of lifeless bones swept away all thoughts except one, Paw Paw, Paw Paw, Paw Paw.

Laila looked back down at the excavation. How could no one feel sorrowful at the sight of the barren bones they were uncovering that once walked as people and had families?

Laila couldn’t stand it anymore. She wanted to move on, not to be reminded of her recent past. All she could do was run away from the cause of her misery. She turned away from the scene below and took one humble step that turned into a sprint. She ran until her teacher, Dr. Maricai, stopped her.

Laila, she shouted from a few feet away. Where might you be going? The excavation isn’t even close to being done for the day.

I know this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but I can’t stand there and watch them pull a lifeless skeleton out of the ground.

I know your grandfather’s death was a great loss for you, but you have to move on and leave your past behind you.

I know, but seeing the tombs and the skeletons of these people only makes me think about last month. Please, just give me a different place to dig holes.

Go ahead and work over by Dr. Cavicia.

Yes, ma’am, Laila replied. She detoured around the other excavations to where Dr. Cavicia tried to uncover a clay pot in a sea of dirt. Laila asked what she could do. Dr. Cavicia told her to start digging a hole with a paintbrush and a toothpick. Go figure!

After only fifteen minutes, Laila found something. It had a metallic, blue-gray color and was clean, unlike the other pots that had been found that morning. Its shiny and opaque exterior insured that nothing could ever be seen if it were placed inside it. The thing moved. Part of the thing jumped up to make a finger pointing straight at Laila. It moved like a gear. The edges stuck out and then it started to rotate. It moved around Laila’s feet. This was no ordinary pot. It had no shape, and it moved randomly as if it lived but couldn’t decide where to go. First it twitched left, then right. Then it suddenly had spikes.

Puzzled, Laila reached out to pick it up. She wanted to know what it could be, and she figured Dr. Maricai would have the answers. Right as her fingertips touched the smooth, cold surface of it all of her surroundings disappeared as if, suddenly, they evaporated. A black sky–as dark as crow’s feathers–replaced the serene, blue Egyptian sky, and harsh, black concrete replaced the sandy ground. A floating motorcycle passed her, headed towards a downtrodden shack. The shack sat at the end of a long road of black pavement. Trash littered the entire area. Even areas capable of growing grass were covered, held back, and polluted. Out in the distance, she saw a clean floating city-like skyline.

What was this place where motorcycles and cities floated and shacks were in the middle of trash instead of in the middle of nowhere? Surrounded by no one but the worms eating at the trash and whoever passed her on the floating motorbike and lived in that shack, Laila stared out at the polluted sky and wondered. What is it? Where am I? What am I here to do besides just look dumbfounded? How will I get home?

Laila held it tightly and thought, Why am I not home. Please take me home. Home. Home. HOME!

Nothing happened.

Laila lay herself down on the pavement and closed her eyes. It flattened itself, and she decided to use it as a pillow. Soon she sat in a chair in her grandfather’s house surrounded by his antique furniture and dusty old pictures. He told her a story about a nice little kangaroo that lived in Australia and loved to eat grass. He and his friend, the koala bear, were taking a trip to the desert so they could pick cactus flowers…

She heard another engine moving towards her. When it floated right beside her, it stopped. She opened her eyes, and she could only see the face of a young boy, about her age. His deep brown eyes stared right at her.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING LAYING DOWN IN THE CREATURE’S TERRITORY? the boy yelled.

Well if I can’t lie down here, why does someone live here? asked Laila, referring to the shack at the end of the black, paved road.

For your information that person was just leaving.

So you live here, and you are yelling at me because I’m temporarily laying on the ground.

I’m moving so it doesn’t matter anymore, he said with a large frown on his face.

Laila placed her hands on the cement to push herself up, and the boy extended his hand to help her. Laila willingly accepted his act of chivalry as her grandfather would have called it. She stared at him, noticing his charmingly handsome, striking features. His eyes glistened without a single beam of sunlight shining down on him.

With his hand in hers, she pulled herself up and stood next to him wondering, daydreaming. Who is he? she thought. Who are the creatures? Why did he live here if it was so dangerous? Why is he leaving?

What is that? he asked pointing at it.

I’m not sure, replied Laila. All I know is I was in Egypt until I touched it, but now I’m here, wherever here is.

The boy picked it up. Come with me. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to his floating motorcycle.

You know, if you’re going keep on getting mad at me and then helping me and then forcing me to go somewhere against my will, it would help if I at least knew your name.

David, the boy replied. David Number 18. I’m seventeen years old. I go to Fotcite High, and my dad is in jail for no reason. Wanna know anything else, nosey?

Feeling ashamed, Laila swung her leg over the seat of David’s motorcycle, and David started the engine. Laila leaned forward and whispered in his ear, I’m sorry.

It’s okay, David replied. How did you find this?

Laila recalled her experience in Egypt with it, and how she just appeared here. David stared at her like she didn’t belong.

What’s your name?

Laila Servaine.

Who is your grandfather?

It should be who was my grandfather.

He died!

What is it to you?

You see this power source. David held it above his head for Laila to see. It is set to find your grandfather’s DNA, but I guess it thinks you are the closest thing.

Well I’m not him, so can I please go home, Laila said. She found herself very annoyed that wherever she went, the memory of her grandfather haunted her. I live in Gastonia, North Carolina, at a boarding school, 2533 Lawrun Drive.

You think I can just drive you back home? Do you even know where you are?

No, but I know where I want to be, and you can take me there. Just find the highway and drive.

Have you even noticed that my motorcycle is floating?

Yeah, Laila replied. It’s 2010. I want a flying car too, and you were one of the lucky ones who got one.

Laila, David said, treating her naively. You’re in 2112.

Oh. A tear started to form in the corner of her eye.

I know that’s hard to grasp, so I’ll let you get used to it seeing as you’re from the past and everything. I’ll explain everything else later.

Laila didn’t want to know anything else. The more information she got, the more it hurt. She only wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but she couldn’t––at least not with David around.

* * *

David stopped the motorcycle in front of a run-down warehouse. They got off the motorcycle, and David heaved the door open revealing a large room with a mattress, a fridge, and a collection of chemical experiments. Laila walked in and asked, Do you live here?

Yes, David replied. But that isn’t the issue right now. You have to know what you need to do, and you won’t have much time at the rate we’re going.

So I actually have a purpose here? Laila wondered.

Of course. You wouldn’t have been sent here if you were useless, and right now you have one of the most important jobs ever.

Okay… What is this ‘job’? Laila asked, sitting down on the dirty floor of the warehouse.

David picked up the power source and said, You have to take this fuel to the power house.

Laila stared at him completely puzzled, HOW? WHERE? WHY? ME? NOW? PLEASE TELL ME WHY?

Whoa! Why are you so scared? It won’t be that hard. I’ll go with you.

I’m sorry, but I just got here, and you’ve made this place seem so cruel and unjust and…uh… I…I just don’t understand. If this thing was supposed to get to my grandfather why did I have to find it after he died?

Now, the last question I can’t answer, but I have most of the answers. This place is cruel and unjust, but if you play you’re cards right you can get through with some rewards. Now for you to understand everything, I’ll have to start at the beginning. When I was growing up, the world was pretty much the same as it is for you except we had higher technology. A man by the name of Luke Servaine was the chief of our civilization and had the power to lock all of our important buildings with passwords, including the powerhouse. Everything went wrong about five years ago when Luke became a greedy man who lead our people into starvation. Many people died, and this city is one of ten all around the globe that still remains. Luke had become a creature. Later that same year we lost our last bit of power. The creatures took it. Laila, Luke is your great, great, great grandson.

But, he destroyed your world. Well, almost.

It gets worse. About three years ago it was gradually getting darker all over the world, and my father proved that the sun was losing its power too and would explode, destroying our world with it if we didn’t have the power to stop it. Immediately, my dad started looking for a source of power to save our world.

And he found one, Laila filled in the blanks.

Right, but the new chief found out that he had discovered a power source and wanted it to use for his pleasure. When the chief came to retrieve it my father had destroyed all evidence of it and sent the actual source to the past so that your grandfather could come here and get it into the power house.

Okay, Laila stated. Wait… But why send it to my grandfather. Why not the president? He probably could’ve done a lot better than anybody else

Well, that’s because the only clue we have for the password to get into the powerhouse is great, great, great, great grandfather.

Okay, Laila muttered. "That isn’t creepy. So how do I save the world and stuff?"

You’re really that up for this.

If this is what I’m here for, I’m gonna get it done.

Well the first thing we need to do is break my dad out of jail because he’s the only one who will know what to do with the source when you get into the powerhouse. Then…

Do you have like a white board and markers or something in this dump?

No! We don’t have time to draw. The sun is predicted to blow up in twenty-three hours

Well can I at least have a pen to write this down?

Here. David gave Laila a pen and a piece of scrap paper from his pocket. After rescuing my dad, we need to teach you how to move across creature territory because we’ll have to go through their zone to get to the powerhouse. Plus, they’re guarding it, so that could be a problem. Then we’ll go out and save the world.

Next time, don’t make it sound so simple. That can mislead people.

Not you it seems like. So, we’ll need to break my dad out at night when it’s pitch black, and no one does anything at the jailhouse. They got a new guard to do the night shift, and he can sleep through anything. So we’ll just weld through the bars, and let him out.

Couldn’t you just take the keys and open the door.

Go ahead, ruin all the fun. Killjoy.

I was just saying.

It’s okay. We could, David said. Right now it’s ten o’clock in the morning so we can start getting you used to a jet pack.

COOL!

David walked across the room to a small cupboard and took out two jet packs. Laila looked at them in awe. They weren’t any bigger that her Biology textbook back home, and they weren’t any heavier either. Laila chose the bright orange one and put the thick straps on her back and buckled a second set of straps across her waist.

So where’s the on button, Laila asked.

Just say… ON, David’s jet pack spit flames from its end, and he shot up to the top of the warehouse. FLOAT. David floated above Laila’s head. He almost touched the ceiling of the tall warehouse.

OKAY. THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE COOLEST THING EVER. ON. Laila rose up to the ceiling. FLOAT. She floated in the air next to David.

Wind rushed by her. Laila looked down, and the ground crept closer to her. DAVID.

Her cry reached his ears too late, and she crashed to the ground. Surprised by a soft landing, Laila found herself on a mattress. She collapsed back down onto its fluffiness. For what seemed to be no reason she let herself start to cry, but she wasn’t hurt. She just wasn’t sure anymore. She wasn’t sure that she was really excited to be in the future. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to save the world anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could ever do anything that her grandfather was meant to do. She wasn’t ready to fit into his shoes. She didn’t know if she would ever be.

Why couldn’t she have time to grieve? Why couldn’t she just come back another time? Why did God make life unfair? Why? WHY? WHY!

Are you okay? David rushed to her side. I’m really sorry. I wasn’t paying attention when you fell. You must have lost your concentration. You have to think about flying when you’re up in the air.

Laila stood up and muttered, I’m going home. And she walked away while wiping the tears off her cheeks.

David stood still watching as she walked away.

Right as Laila reached the door of the warehouse she heard, But you’re our only chance. How will you be able to live knowing that in 2112 everyone on Earth will die, and you could have stopped it?

I just can’t help you right now. Laila started to cry again. I can’t move on right now.

We need you, David screamed. "I need you… My dad needs you. Everyone here needs you."

I just can’t, Laila managed to say as she ran out of the warehouse. She could go into town and get some time machine thing or something. She would do anything to get out of 2112.

As she started to mount David’s motorcycle, a hand fell onto her shoulder. Don’t go. I know that sounds pathetic, but not doing this will haunt you for the rest of your life, and you know it. Please. I don’t want to die.

Laila turned around and just looked at him. Tears streamed down her face, and she reached out to hug him.

While they were embracing she managed to say through her weeping, I won’t go anywhere.

Laila and David walked back into the warehouse and cried away their sorrows through the rest of the afternoon and evening. At six-thirty, Laila came back down to earth and wanted food. She got up from her spot on the floor and walked over to the small refrigerator.

How are you supposed to eat any of this? Laila asked. Your cheese has mold on it, your milk has chunks in it, and your bread has GUM on it!

I’m a guy and it’s called a restaurant.

Well can we go to one?

Sure, David said while getting up. All you had to do was say ‘I’m hungry.’ But no. You had to criticize my food supply.

Hey, if you get any meaner, I will leave.

Okay, okay, David agreed as they left the warehouse. The restaurant is just on the edge of town, but we can’t waste much more time. Only fifteen hours left.

I can eat fast.

Hey. If you get much ruder I’ll let you save the world alone.

Laila and David mounted the motorcycle and they were off.

* * *

The darkness became unbearable as night crawled closer. Even at nine-thirty the sky had already turned black. The ground had become an even darker shade of black. There was no moon, nor were there stars to guide a man’s way through the shadows. Laila saw no street lamps, no energy, and no light.

Laila and David grabbed their jet packs and one of those really cool spy gadgets that cut through stuff with fire. On, they whispered. Fire flared from the bottoms of the jet packs, and they set off into the unknown darkness of unknown cruelty.

David and Laila flew across the unlit sky, managing to bypass crashing into several trees. By ten fifteen they arrived at the dull jailhouse. Laila could hear the guard snoring inside and figured the plan would work swimmingly.

Mini-welder in hand, David opened the door. As it creaked the guard flinched but didn’t awaken. Laila thought the jailhouse was pretty pathetic compared to the large jails in North Carolina. It had only one-room with a chair and desk for the guard and receptionist, who wasn’t there. Behind the guards desk a safe lay on the floor. It had a piece of tape on it that said keys. The safe had a keyhole, and in it the key had already been placed. Laila walked towards the safe, turned the key, and it opened revealing the keys to the jail cells.

Three keys. Three jail cells, Laila stated. Now all we have to find is your dad.

The jail cells were guarded with thick, gray doors and had small windows in the tops. David jumped up to look in the first cell. Not my dad, he said. Then he looked in the second and said Give me the keys.

Here, Laila said as she handed the keys to him. David immediately put a random key in the door, and it worked. He swung the door open to reveal a man with an unruly beard and strangely round spectacles sleeping on the floor of a room with nothing in it.

David kneeled to the floor and shook the man’s elbow. Dad, he whispered. Dad, wake up.

David, the man cried. How did you get through?

HEY! The guard woke.

Put this on, David told his dad as he shoved a jet pack into his hands.

David’s dad fit it clumsily on his back as Laila stood dumbfounded staring at the guard. He fumbled through his desk trying to find a gun.

Now is our chance, David yelled at Laila. ON.

What’s going on? David’s dad asked. His jet pack turned on, and he flew.

ON, Laila cried. As she flew up in the air, the guard caught her leg. Let go of me, she screamed. The guard only gripped her ankle tighter. Laila wiggled her foot and tried to set it free, but that didn’t work. Then she remembered taking karate as a child. Back kick, she thought. She lifted her free foot and kicked it right against the guard’s nose.

His hands automatically let go of her foot to comfort his now bleeding nose, and Laila shot out of the door of the jailhouse.

As Laila flew a light flashed on the strap of her jet pack. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. The noise it made reminded Laila of the beeping of a large truck when it drove in reverse. Laila didn’t know what it meant, but from all her knowledge she figured that beeping must mean something bad. DAVID, she cried.

Off in the distance Laila could her David’s dad ask, Who is she?

David started to answer but Laila screamed, MY JET PACK IS BEEPING. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!

Darn, David said. Keep flying, Dad. She’s losing fuel. He turned around to fly back Laila.

LOSING FUEL, she screamed. WHAT DO YOU MEAN LOSING FUEL? The beeping went faster and faster, and Laila started to fall slowly. The beeping still rang faster like a bomb before it explodes. Laila fell faster and faster, and then the beeping stopped.

Laila fell, and as she did she could see David flying fast towards her, but he didn’t catch up in time, and Laila fell onto a pile of trash in the middle of nowhere. Then nowhere started to fade to black as her eyes closed. Laila could have sworn that she heard someone crying off in the distance, but she wasn’t sure.

* * *

Who was she?

The creatures probably have her by now, and we only have eight hours to get her back if we want to have anytime left to stop the sun.

Could I at least know who she was?

Laila.

Who’s Laila?

The key to unlock the powerhouse. David paced as time ran out.

No she’s not. An old man was supposed to get the energy.

Well she got it, and she’s the old man’s granddaughter. That old man is dead.

We’ve gotta go save her. Nobody else has any chance of knowing the password.

Really, Dad. We need to save her? David inquired sarcastically.

She’s our only hope.

I know.

I know where they took her. I was there before. Son, I never told you this, but I was once captured by the creatures. It was a terrifying experience. One day…

"Now is NOT the time for reminiscing. Just tell me what